Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

Hi Archers !

I'd like to buy a new laptop, an Asus N56-* which comes with an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU, and an nVidia GPU with the Optimus technology.Since I understand that Optimus support seems to be a little bit chaotic under Linux, I wanted to know if I could completely disable the use and supply of the nVidia GPU and only use the Intel IGP which will be far good enough for me

I read somewhere that some laptop have an option in the BIOS to completely disable the dedicated nVidia GPU, and only allow the use/powering of the Intel IGP. But apparently, some laptop don't have this possibility, so in case my future laptop don't have it I wanted to know if:- Is it possible to force the use of the Intel IGP rather than the nVidia GPU on Linux ?- Is it possible to only keep the powering of the Intel IGP in order to keep a good autonomy on battery ?

Re: Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

@OP - that sucks, but it is the sad situation that exists in this market. In short, nvidia support for linux is lacking on the optimus platform. This is why, in a talk held at Aalto University in Helsinki Finland, Linus Torvalds told nvidia to f*ck off while addressing a question from one of the audience members regarding issues she had with a laptop running NVIDIA Optimus graphics and the lack of support for Linux. See youtube video.

Re: Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

graysky wrote:

@OP - that sucks, but it is the sad situation that exists in this market. In short, nvidia support for linux is lacking on the optimus platform. This is why, in a talk held at Aalto University in Helsinki Finland, Linus Torvalds told nvidia to f*ck off while addressing a question from one of the audience members regarding issues she had with a laptop running NVIDIA Optimus graphics and the lack of support for Linux. See youtube video.

graysky not you too! Please don't send people to 17s out of 1h worth Q&A session. Linus didn't say f-word just because drivers or optimus, although it was started by a question about it, the "f*** you" was about whole experience they had and have with Nvidia as a corporation and its lack of cooperation with kernel ecosystem. And if someone had experience with Linus interpersonal skills he shouldn't be surprised - he actually can and do speak what he thinks, it's so uncommon in these days so people are most of the cases shocked.

Re: Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

@masteryod - Yeah, but I'm getting lazy. I actual watched the full length talk and as well, read the comments presented in the phoronix forums. My point is for the OP to consider an alternative hardware setup given the rough seas in store for him and wanted to give him some context he could dig into himself.

Re: Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

...and if you have a nvidia card, you can use the intel card without issues. But mind that even if you do not use the nvidia card, it will use power. To turn the nvidia gpu off, use bbswitch or Bumblebee. Read more on the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee

Re: Disabling nVidia dedicated GPU and only use Intel IGP ?

I have an Asus N56VZ and today I did the whole Bumblebee thing and it works fine.If I understand it correctly Nvidia card is only used when you run applications with optirun and is turned off right after... as long as you have bbswitch set up properly.So I don't see the need to disable it.